Two Denver-area auto dealerships that advertise to Spanish-speaking customers have been accused of exploiting the language barrier and misleading shoppers into signing transaction documents they don’t understand.
A 9News investigation examined transactions at Mountain States Toyota and Stevinson Toyota East. At each dealership, customers leased cars when they thought they were buying them.
At Stevinson, a Spanish-speaking 9News employee who had been equipped with a hidden camera was warned by a staff member that undisclosed extras such as warranties and insurance might be added to her deal and that she might be asked to sign a lease agreement instead of purchase documentation.
“Be very careful when you go buy a car,” the dealership worker warned. “The car will never be yours.”
The employee’s identity is being withheld out of concern for his job.
As a result of the station’s investigation, the owner of Stevinson says he will change some of its business practices and make good on one customer’s deal brought to his attention by 9News.
Artemio Ornelas went to Mountain States Toyota, at 73rd Avenue and Broadway, in February 2004 and brought along his 13-year-old son, Jesus, because Ornelas doesn’t speak English.
“I went to buy a car, not to rent one,” Ornelas said through an interpreter.
He put down $5,000 on a used Camry but discovered the next day that he hadn’t bought the car; instead, he had leased it.
During the transaction, Ornelas said the Spanish-speaking salesman who had been helping him and his son left, leaving them alone with an English-speaking finance manager who had him sign complicated documents printed in English.
“I’m not the best interpreter at all,” Jesus said. “I think some of these words are college words, and I’m not in college.”
The finance manager sold Artemio Ornelas more than $2,000 in extra insurance and warranties he didn’t want, Jesus said.
“He never explained the whole thing we were signing,” Jesus said. “They just said, ‘Put your initials here, sign here.’ That’s all they did.”
“He was tricked into signing a lease when he thought he was buying a car,” said former Mountain States Toyota salesman Karl Evans.
The company said Evans was fired for insubordination after four months. Evans claims he saw Ornelas and other Latinos sign leases when they wanted to buy.
“They were being preyed on,” Evans said, indicating more money could be made from a lease than from a sale.
As part of the 9News investigation, Evans evaluated Ornelas’ documents and pointed out a $496 fee for “extra care,” a $199 fee for “car care,” and other charges that Ornelas didn’t know about.
In another case, Jesus Rodriguez said he didn’t discover he had been maneuvered into a lease four years ago until he got a call last year notifying him to return the car because his lease was up.
“I paid a lot of money for nothing,” said Rodriguez, who went to Stevinson Toyota East, 444 S. Havana St. in Aurora, to buy a Corolla.
“It’s because I don’t speak English. All they want to do is get money from whomever they can,” Rodriguez said through an interpreter.
Rodriguez said that the finance manager who worked with him didn’t speak Spanish and that his 10-year-old daughter had to decipher the documents.
The 9News employee who was carrying a hidden camera at Stevinson Toyota was told by a Spanish-speaking staffer last month: “You should be very careful buying and not leasing. That has happened to a lot of people here. They don’t explain. A lot of salesmen are honest, and some think just about the money.”
In response to the undercover video, Stevinson owner Kent Stevinson told 9News that the worker who gave the warning will not be fired. He promised that even though state law does not require it, some documents at his dealership will be translated into Spanish. He also pledged to hire more Spanish-speaking salespeople and said they will stay with customers through the financing stage.
Stevinson said he has spoken to Rodriguez and believes it was his intention to buy a car, rather than to lease one. So, Stevinson has forgiven more than $2,000 in end- of-lease charges owed by Rodriguez and also offered to personally help Rodriguez purchase a car at his dealership.
Stevinson denied that his company takes advantage of Latinos. He said that 20 percent of Stevinson’s advertising budget is aimed at reaching Latino customers and that his normal business practice is to make sure customers are happy with their deals.
“We don’t get up every day and try to deceive people,” Stevinson said.
Stevinson denied that it takes advantage of Hispanics but said that it is up to customers to bring their own interpreters and not to rely on the dealership to translate.
Sonic Automotive, which owns Mountain States Toyota, wrote two letters to 9News, which said that, in addition to being fired for insubordination, Evans had threatened to go to the media unless he received additional severance pay. Evans denies those allegations and sued this week for wrongful termination.
“We believe that singling out one transaction of this type relying on the words of a disgruntled former employee who received a commission from the sale, is patently unfair,” wrote Sonic’s lawyer, Thomas Strickland.
